Fandom: Star WarsRated: PGCategory: Gen, Slice of Life, Vignette. Epilogue is optional - and RebelCaptain if you so desire.Time Frame: Open, but a short time before The Force Awakens.Spoilers: Info from Rogue One, ANH, and TFA involved, but no significant spoilers.Summary: They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, one says so much more.Word Count: 810 plus optional epilogue.Note: This fic was written in response to a plot bunny that came along after I read “The Spy and The Informant”, “The Thief and Her Partner”, and “The Captain and The Prisoner” by JustKeepOnTheGrass. It is not necessary to read those stories to understand this one, but I encourage you to do so. Bottom line, though, for this fic, is that in said stories, Cassian has a photograph of Jyn. A standard photo, like police would show around when looking for a suspect. It’s a tool for his job when he’s looking for her before her “rescue” from the Empire. Mostly. Usually.

But here, in this very room? Never in a million years would she have seen herself here.

Yet here she was.

In a room she'd only visited a few times decades ago in her teenage years.

A room she’d only seen on those rare nights when the liquor flowed just enough for the younger troops to forget her even younger age and her societal status.

On those nights when she'd managed to get caught up in the crowd, carousing with the best of them, until they retired to more quietly drink their problems away after the cantina closed for the night.

On those nights when she'd ended up here, like they all did. They'd sip their drinks until the fire in their eyes faded enough to let them sleep.

But that fire kept them talking until the wee hours, and while the topics of conversation ranged widely, the fight was always simmering just under the surface - and sometimes boiling over.

It was here that Leia had first truly understood what her father stood for. What she was getting involved with. It was here that she caught fire along with the rest of them.

Here, in Cassian Andor's quarters.

They were somehow just how she remembered them. Spartan but with a few touches that were uniquely him. Everything useful was gone, of course. No clothes hung in the closet, and anything working had long since been re-appropriated. But some remnants of Cassian persisted, even now. A handful of file folders in a haphazard stack on the bolted-down desk. A broken wrist com on the built-in nightstand. A few gears from a forgotten droid next to the com.

And there, under the stripped bed, a photo. An actual picture. Not a holo. A photograph. It was face down, but the paper was unmistakable.

Leia's curiosity was piqued. Andor had never seemed the sentimental type. For him to have a photograph was surprising. Then again, most wouldn't have thought the quiet, serious eventual captain often played host to some of the rowdiest the Rebellion had to offer, either.

And Cassian had always been full of surprises, so as she bent down and retrieved the picture, Leia was intrigued. She stood back up slowly, joints protesting a bit at her movement. She wasn't so young anymore, after all.

As she stood, she flipped the photo over. When she saw the image, she gasped. Then she sat down on the empty bed frame slowly and just stared at the photo, taken far into the past.

A few minutes later, footsteps in the hall roused Leia from her contemplation. By the time Lieutenant Connix entered the room, Leia was standing again.

“There you are, General,” said Connix. “I thought I'd lost you.”

Leia scoffed at her aide-turned-chaperone.

“Hardly.”

Connix smiled, then spoke carefully to her superior.

“We're due to leave soon, ma’am. The ship's been refueled and the supplies are loaded.”

Leia chuckled.

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant. I can take a hint,” said Leia. “I’ll be along in a bit. Just reminiscing.”

To her credit, Connix's response was a statement, not a question.

“The Death Star.”

Leia nodded.

Then she moved to follow Connix out of the room, casting one last glance over her shoulder as she did. She tucked the photo into her pocket.

Connix noticed, and her curiosity got the better of her.

“What's that?” she asked.

Leia pulled the photo back out and smiled, putting any fears Connix had about speaking out of turn to rest. She showed the picture to the junior officer.

“A souvenir,” said Leia.

Connix took the photo and her brow furrowed.

“Did you know her?”

Leia's smile faded. “I wish,” she said.

Connix grew more puzzled.

“Who is she?”

“That,” Leia said pointedly, “is Jyn Erso.”

“Who?”

Leia sighed. People always remembered Yavin and Endor. Never Jedha. Or Scariff.

“You ever hear the story of Rogue One?”

“Everyone knows about Rogue One,” answered Connix.

“But you don’t know Erso?”

Connix flushed. “I don’t know the details. Just what the pilots say, which isn’t much.”

“Only that they’re the best,” scoffed Leia, adding an eye roll for good measure.

“Pretty much,” agreed Connix. “I take it Erso was there?”

Leia nodded. “And how,” she said, as she took the photo back. Then she left the room without looking back again. As she did, she spoke clearly to Connix.

“Well, come on, then. We've got a long flight ahead of us. And have I got a story for you.”

Hours later, on the other side of the galaxy, Connix straddled a munitions crate in the cargo bay of General Organa's transport. Leia sat on another crate facing her.

“I just have one question,” said Connix.

Leia's eyebrows rose, urging the girl on.

“You said that room was Andor's.”

“And?” prompted Leia.

“Why did Captain Andor have a photo of Erso?”

“She was his mission,” answered Leia. “Kind of hard to track someone down if you don’t know what they look like.”

“But why a photo? Why not a holo?”

Leia shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe it's just what they had? Maybe it was easier to show around?”

Connix considered this for a moment, then nodded. “Seems reasonable,” she mused. “But why keep it? After he found Erso?”

Leia's face split with a sly grin.

“Use your imagination.”

Then she climbed off her crate and walked off, leaving Connix doing just that.

[Author Notes]A/N: I suspect the First Order, however they came to power, likely stifled education along the way. Certainly education regarding the Rebellion and its history. Since the New Republic doesn’t seem to have been in power very long, people of Lieutenant Connix’s age are likely somewhat hindered in this regard. That is why my Connix (Billie Lourd’s character, by the way – chosen here very much on purpose) doesn’t know names and dates. Only big events. The ones talked about in barracks late at night. And you just know that Rogue Squadron talks up their status a whole lot more than their history. They’re pilots. Pilots talk battles and ships and their own greatness. So a junior officer like Connix would know their talk, but not the true tales. As for my Yavin, in my mind the base been abandoned for some time, but people do live on the planet. They’ve stripped the old base, but left anything too big to carry or not of use. Thus, the state of Cassian’s quarters. Finally, the end is for my RebelCaptain shippers. You imagine whatever you want, loves, and may the Muse be with you.